Man rejects plea agreement in Easton area robbery spree

Duane Connelly has rejected a plea deal in a case involving an attempted… (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO, THE…)

June 01, 2011|By Riley Yates, OF THE MORNING CALL

Despite a videotaped confession, a homeless man charged with targeting women in a two-day string of robberies in the Easton area will try his luck with a jury.

Duane T. Connelly, 40, rejected a plea agreement on Wednesday in which he would have faced sentencing on seven criminal charges, telling Northampton County Judge Edward Smith that he wants to go to trial.

In his most serious case, Connelly is accused of the robbery and attempted abduction of a female Lafayette College student. The woman told police that Connelly, armed with a knife and a gun, tried to force her into the truck of his car early Sept. 26 at a residential hall parking lot, according to court records.

Police also allege Connelly stole the purses of four other women in Easton and Forks Township from Sept. 25 to 26, just days after he is accused of swiping a car in the city. The evidence against him includes video in which he admits "to each and every offense," Assistant District Attorney Robert Eyer said in court.

Connelly, who has pleaded not guilty, is scheduled to go to trial next week on all but the car-theft case. His attorney, Michael Corcoran, said the defense contends some of the allegations amount only to theft, and not robbery.

Under the prosecution's plea offer, outlined by Smith, Connelly would have admitted to four counts of robbery, one each of theft and motor-vehicle theft, and also pleaded no contest to the attempted kidnapping.

The plea would have been open, meaning Smith would have decided the sentence, with decades of prison time at his disposal.

Connelly's rejection came after he met privately with Corcoran about the offer. It also came just hours after an earlier hearing in which Smith warned Connelly that a lengthy prior record could mean he never gets out of prison if he is convicted.

"You've put yourself in a position where you're unlikely to come out of this thing without getting hurt," Smith told him. "But that's up to the jury."

Smith added: "Even in the standard range (of sentencing guidelines), you're looking at what could be a life sentence."

Connelly was arrested three days after the alleged spree after a manhunt involving several police departments. Spotted by an officer driving the stolen car on Route 611, police said, Connelly abandoned it and fled toward the river.

For more than two hours, police from Easton and Phillipsburg and state troopers searched the area on foot, by boat and in helicopter before Connelly was found on Getters Island in Easton.